Thorpeness Golf Club’s curious connection with The Masters

Thorpeness Golf Club Head Professional Frank Hill, photographed in the library with the map of Suffolk and the golf magazine that triggered his discovery

A Suffolk golf club has uncovered a curious connection it shares with The Masters Tournament – golf’s season opening Major Championship – which gets under way tomorrow (Thursday).

Thorpeness Golf Club and Hotel Head Professional Frank Hill was having a coffee and reading a magazine article about Augusta National Golf Club when he discovered the unusual link with the Suffolk holiday village where he’s worked for 19 years.

“I was looking at a picture of the green jackets that Masters Champions wear with the famous badge and map of Georgia state with the golf flag showing Augusta’s location. I was in our hotel library at the time where there is a map of Suffolk and I noticed that Georgia, U.S.A and Suffolk are virtually identical in shape. When I looked more closely I saw that both Augusta and Thorpeness are in virtually the same place on the respective maps. I had to look twice but when put side by side it’s uncanny,” said Frank.

Hill is the current Captain of the Suffolk PGA (Professional Golfer’s Association) and has played in The Open Championship five times but had never ever made the connection before.

“The Masters is possibly the best known tournament in the entire sport, for golfers and non-golfers, and it’s the one that marks the unofficial start of the golfing year.

It’s nice to have discovered this odd quirk of geography we share with one of golf’s most famous venues.”

Legendary Course Designers

The connections don’t stop at location either. Both Thorpeness and Augusta National were designed by legendary Scottish golf course designers, Augusta by Dr. Alister Mackenzie and Thorpeness by five-time Open Champion James Braid.

Both golf clubs also have rooms in their clubhouse for golfers to stay over; Augusta has the ‘Crow’s Nest’ rooms in its attic while Thorpeness has 36-rooms, including its ‘Braid Lodge.’

Hotel manager Ajay Anthony, said: “Thorpeness is a quirky place, with a House in the Clouds and a boating lake that inspired the story of Peter Pan. Suffolk is sometimes called the ‘Curious County’ and so this strange coincidence didn’t come as too much of a shock.”

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